Glen Johnson

[RedRum]

He's the antithesis of your typical English player. Most, yeah, are wildly overrated. Johnson has found himself in the odd position of being an excellent attacking right back and most English football fans and media deriding him with the usual tedious platitudes like "fair enough he's alright going forward but he can't defend etc". And often from people who covet the likes of Dani Alves. In fact I think, for the most part, he's been one of the most badly misunderstood footballers in the country.

His form for the best part of 12 months has been piss poor, but prior to that he'd been, on the whole, excellent for us.

He has a good game now and again but most of the time he is average. He is not even that good going forward in my opinion. Id like to see his total amount of assists over his time with us, bet its a dire record. I hope McLaughlin comes through the ranks because he looks a talent.

[PTP]

Its a strange one, if you think over the last few years, fullbacks have been at an absolute premium, but there aren't that many you can think of across Europe, off the top of your head, that you would go "excellent player" - maybe apart from Lahm or Alba. I remember Clichy was heavily linked before he went to City, but he hasn't exactly set the world alight. Maybe its because of the current fashion for attacking fullbacks that they're being judged across every third of the pitch - like Kelly. He seemed a decent defender but doesn't offer anything going forward. Its a difficult position to pin down, the full back.

Most of the full backs in the league, its easy to pull them apart if you want to.



Nah

What we need is a Steve Finnan - consistent, reasonable defender, could offer something going forward....was 7 out of 10 every week. Never 10 out of 10 one week, four of ten the next week, never in and out with injuries.

just reliable, solid and with ability

in fact while we are it i'd have an Arbeloa as well - someone capable of being good at both right back and full back

and a top class left back

i'd then sell Johnson, Kelly, Enrique and bin off cissokho

right back
a Finnan
a Arbeloa
Wisdom

left back
top class
a arbeloa
robinson/flanagan

[RedRum]

Steve Finnan. Now he was miles ahead of Glen.

[Shaggy]

You'd have the perfect right back if you could blend Finnan, Arbeloa and Johnson.

While Finnan was good, his ponderous play and lack of attacking quality ground many fans down and most of us came to crave someone who could contribute in the final third.

[Red_Polo]

His left footed crosses were half decent though

[Maxiedge]

At one point Johnson was one of the best right backs in the world. Such a threat attacking and also defended pretty well.

He's done this before though. Went completely off the boil in the 'dreadlock days'.

I keep believing he'll suddenly find his form again but it's been nearly a year now

[PTP]

yeah a finnan/johnson/arbeloa combined would be perfect...

then find a left footed version of it as well

the reason i thought of finnan was more his reliability - yeah he wasn't a world beater...but he was there week in/week out and did his job

on the face of it though - i think right now Arbeloa would have been perfect for us - someone capable of playing both left/right back and being reasonably good at both.

[PTP]

At one point Johnson was one of the best right backs in the world. Such a threat attacking and also defended pretty well.

He's done this before though. Went completely off the boil in the 'dreadlock days'.

I keep believing he'll suddenly find his form again but it's been nearly a year now

thats the worry

yeah previously he's had games where it looks like his heads up his arse....but this usually last one or two games and he sorted it out

this is just every week at the moment and it clearlly looks like a case of "he has gone" be it, he's been offered silly money elsewhere behind the scenes or we've told him we won't be renewing his contract unless he takes a big pay cut.

the daft thing is.....if he was playing out of his skin, performing week in/week out - the fans would be demanding we gave the £100k to stay

[Shaggy]

yeah a finnan/johnson/arbeloa combined would be perfect...

then find a left footed version of it as well

the reason i thought of finnan was more his reliability - yeah he wasn't a world beater...but he was there week in/week out and did his job

on the face of it though - i think right now Arbeloa would have been perfect for us - someone capable of playing both left/right back and being reasonably good at both.

Agreed on all counts. I liked Finnan. It's just that, in the end, where we were at and where we wanted to be, we needed better.

And agreed - Arbeloa, while he could also frustrate in the final third, would be spot on for us now. Excellent defender, had a bit more than Finnan going forward and one hell of a needly *******

[baitman]

At one point Johnson was one of the best right backs in the world. Such a threat attacking and also defended pretty well.

He's done this before though. Went completely off the boil in the 'dreadlock days'.

I keep believing he'll suddenly find his form again but it's been nearly a year now

maybe johnson is just a new hair style from resurrecting his anfield future, but its too risky a strategy to consider him our permanent rb option.

[el matador]

having sterling in front isnt helping johnson imo. they are both looking to attack the same spaces and since sterlings introduction johnson's forward attacks have been scarce.

[Daniel 7]

Finnan and Arbeloa were great from a full back traditionalists perspective - they defended well and kept it simple going forward, nothing too adventurous. I'm not sure that's enough for the way Brendan has LFC set up, which is probably why we haven't seen Glen on the left so much anymore - it curtails the potential for him to pose a threat going forward.

Glen drives me mad though - the amount of smug "Glen Johnson, yeah he's boss him, lolz" conversations I have had recently is doing my head in!

Full back nostalgia though - I loved Babbel

[Red_Polo]

Me too. Best fullback we've had since **** knows.

[RedRum]

How many assists has Johnson got in his time with us? Probably not much

[Kenneth]

Me too. Best fullback we've had since **** knows.

Insua, if you listen to some.